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New Shoes

I have been running in the Mizuno wave sayonara for about 3 months and im not satisfied .im looking to purchase new shoes, my feet have a low arch i overpronate and i heel strike.I will use the shoes to run anything from 5k to a marathoni have been looking at : New Balance M890 v4,Saucony Kinvara 4/3,Adidas boost and newtons .any suggestions?

Take your shoes and yourself to a local independent running store. No one can answer your question without seeing:1. You, in motion. 2. Your shoes, after having taken the stresses of said motion over time.

[NB: An ambitious training plan can smash a pair of shoes past its useful life over 3 months. Take care when attributing causes and effects. It might simply be time for a refresh.]

Read on if they never quite felt right from day one.

Frustrating as it might be to acknowledge, "reviews", even by wonderfully knowledgeable authors, are at best useful for general obvious characteristics. What really counts is the way you run in a shoe. You are a case study of one.

Arming you with fundamentals is where your local running store excels. But coupling these principles with your own training behavior is uniquely your task. Taking a blind recommendation without a test drive is a great way to stumble into a less than stellar shoe experience.

Can you get lucky with a recommendation? Sure. Almost ALL running shoes are great for SOMEONE's feet -- and potentially awful for someone else's. A review might coincide with how a shoe behaves for you. But without learning to sound this out for yourself, and to trust your own senses, you'll often miss many other great possibilities that your local running gurus have in stock.

Learning to project your past experiences to anticipate how any new shoe might serve you throughout its life is one of your tasks as runner. There are no shortcuts. And this is why we run.

That's all well and good provided your local running store is staffed by people who know what they are talking about, are knowledgeable about the biomechanics of running, and don't cling to old, out-dated paradigms (pronation control). Some are good, some are not.

Very true. I should have been more specific: if your local place is NOT so staffed, it's not a real running store. Move on, and find one. (You will have better luck most often with independent, as opposed to franchised stores. However, occasionally a franchisee will have the right approach, so be open.)

Here are 4 key indicators (beyond being staffed by RUNNERS).A real running store will:1. Not be afraid to strongly discourage you from a shoe that simply catches your eye, or your "new thing" radar.2. Have severe misgivings about letting you buy ANY shoe without running at least 200 meters in it.3. Counsel you that most often, the most expensive shoe is NOT the best for you. (Sometimes, maybe every 5 years or so, it may be.) And they'll bring you out one to compare anyway, so that you can feel for yourself which shoe is, in fact, "you". 4. NEVER suggest (or let you suggest) a larger size when you really need a wider one -- and they will explain WHY, and tell you where to find what you need if they don't have and/or can't get it.

In short, if you don't immediately get the vibe that they care more about your health and progress than about today's receipts, you're not in a real running store.

Yes, they are hard to find. But the search and subsequent drive is well worth it.

But never lose sight of this: these runners ALL had to start as newbies. They aquired their expertise mostly the old-fashioned way: trial, error and notation of results. You too can learn what you need to know to keep yourself moving forward.

And there's nothing more rewarding than knowing that you've gained enough skill to trust your own judgement.